Girls Only! Toolkit
The Girls Only prevention education toolkit is the product of a collaboration between the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, Project Concern International (PCI), and the City of San Diego Commission on Gang Prevention and Intervention (CGPI). Focused on girls ages 8-12, “Girls Only” fills a need in San Diego by empowering girls before they enter their teenage years. The program outlined in this toolkit provides a forum for young girls to learn to love and honor themselves, giving them the opportunity to find alternatives to the kinds of abusive relationships with men and with themselves that often lead to involvement with gangs, substance abuse, prostitution, human trafficking, and, eventually, the criminal justice system.
Girls of color, especially girls living in poverty, are especially “at risk” for the negative consequences of these involvements. The Girls Only program is therefore gender specific and age-appropriate as well as intentionally culturally specific and place-based. “Girls Only” aims to prevent girls from turning to negative and potentially dangerous coping mechanisms by giving them the tools to build self-esteem and the ability to make healthy choices at a critical age.
The Girls Only toolkit is intended as a contribution to San Diego community efforts to empower and educate young girls through prevention education. Girls Only curriculum employs evidence-based approaches to prevention that include consistent mentorship, positive role models, supportive peer groups, interactive teaching methods, place-based approaches and experiential education in order to meet these goals.